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有件事我想和你商量，"奥菲利亚小姐说，"奥古斯丁曾答应过给汤姆自由，并开始办手续了。我希望你再争取一下，把这件事办妥。" "Indeed, I shall do no such thing!" said Marie, sharply. "Tom is one of the most valuable servants on the place,--it couldn't be afforded, any way. Besides, what does he want of liberty? He's a great deal better off as he is."" 哼，我才不干呢！"玛丽尖声说，"这些奴隶中，属汤姆最值钱了，我可承担不起这个损失。再说了，他要自由干嘛？他现在不是挺快活的吗？" "But he does desire it, very earnestly, and his master promised it," said Miss Ophelia." 可是他真的热切盼望得到自由，而且圣克莱尔也确实向他许诺过。"奥菲利亚小姐说。 "I dare say he does want it," said Marie; "they all want it, just because they are a discontented set,--always wanting what they haven't got. Now, I'm principled against emancipating, in any case. Keep a negro under the care of a master, and he does well enough, and is respectable; but set them free, and they get lazy, and won't work, and take to drinking, and go all down to be mean, worthless fellows, I've seen it tried, hundreds of times. It's no favor to set them free."" 他当然想自由啦！"玛丽说，"他们谁不想这个？他们都是一群贪得无厌的家伙，总是有非分之想。哼，我可是坚决反对解放黑奴的。在主人的管束下，黑人还能把活儿干好，人也老老实实的；如果把他们解放了，那可就不得了啦，偷懒耍滑，惹是生非，个个都会堕落成无用的败类，这种人我见的多了，给他们自由简直是愚蠢可笑。" "But Tom is so steady, industrious, and pious."" 可是，汤姆一贯勤俭、持重啊！" 
咳，这我还不清楚，像他那样的我见过上百个了。管着他就规规矩矩的，其实就那么回事。" "But, then, consider," said Miss Ophelia, "when you set him up for sale, the chances of his getting a bad master."" 可是，玛丽，"奥菲利亚小姐说，"想一想吧，你要是把他卖出去，很可能他会碰上一个坏主人。" "O, that's all humbug!" said Marie; "it isn't one time in a hundred that a good fellow gets a bad master; most masters are good, for all the talk that is made. I've lived and grown up here, in the South, and I never yet was acquainted with a master that didn't treat his servants well,--quite as well as is worth while. I don't feel any fears on that head."" 哼，没有的事！"玛丽说，"好黑奴遇上坏主人，这样的事情少之又少。我可是土生土长的南方人，在这儿呆了一辈子也没见过一个对仆人不好的主人呢。我看都够好的，你大可不必操这个心。" "Well," said Miss Ophelia, energetically, "I know it was one of the last wishes of your husband that Tom should have his liberty; it was one of the promises that he made to dear little Eva on her death-bed, and I should not think you would feel at liberty to disregard it."" 不过，"奥菲利亚小姐据理力争，"我知道，你丈夫生前就有让汤姆得到自由的意愿，这也是亲爱的伊娃的遗愿，你总不能置他们的心愿于不顾吧！" Marie had her face covered with her handkerchief at this appeal, and began sobbing and using her smelting-bottle, with great vehemence. 听了这番话，玛丽当即用手帕盖住了脸，使劲地抽泣起来，一边拼命去嗅她的香精瓶。 
谁都跟我过不去，"玛丽哭着说，"谁都不体谅我！想不到你也来揭我的伤疤，你太不体谅我了！谁肯设身处地为我想一想，难道我受的罪还少了吗？惟一的宝贝女儿就这样死了；找个情投意合的丈夫本就不容易，找到了又被老天从我身边夺走了！你明明知道一提起这些事，我就恨不得去死，你却偏偏在我面前提。你太不体谅人了！我相信你没什么恶意，可是你太不体谅我了，太不体谅我了！"说完，她又啜泣起来，直哭得上气不接下气。妈咪赶忙替她开窗子，取樟脑丸，敷湿毛巾，解衣裳，大伙儿都忙做一团。奥菲利亚小姐趁此退了出来，回到自己的房问。 She saw, at once, that it would do no good to say anything more; for Marie had an indefinite capacity for hysteric fits; and, after this, whenever her husband's or Eva's wishes with regard to the servants were alluded to, she always found it convenient to set one in operation. Miss Ophelia, therefore, did the next best thing she could for Tom,--she wrote a letter to Mrs. Shelby for him, stating his troubles, and urging them to send to his relief. 她终于明白，一切都是徒劳，玛丽的歇斯底里说发就发，特别是提及圣克莱尔和伊娃对家中的黑奴有什么愿望时，更是发作得厉害。最后，奥菲利亚小姐只得替汤姆给希尔比太太写了封信，把他的恶劣的处境告诉她，希望她想办法搭救。 The next day, Tom and Adolph, and some half a dozen other servants, were marched down to a slave-warehouse, to await the convenience of the trader, who was going to make up a lot for auction. 第二天，汤姆、阿道夫和其他五六个仆人被一起押到一家黑奴交易所，在那儿等待拍卖。那家交易所的老板准备货一到齐就立刻拍卖。 A slave warehouse! Perhaps some of my readers conjure up horrible visions of such a place. They fancy some foul, obscure den, some horrible _Tartarus "informis, ingens, cui lumen ademptum."_ But no, innocent friend; in these days men have learned the art of sinning expertly and genteelly, so as not to shock the eyes and senses of respectable society. Human property is high in the market; and is, therefore, well fed, well cleaned, tended, and looked after, that it may come to sale sleek, and strong, and shining. A slave-warehouse in New Orleans is a house externally not much unlike many others, kept with neatness; and where every day you may see arranged, under a sort of shed along the outside, rows of men and women, who stand there as a sign of the property sold within. 一座黑奴交易所！在读者的脑海中，这样一个场所恐怕是与恐怖和触目惊心联系在一起的。想象中，这会是一所阴暗龌龊的房子，破旧不堪，浊臭熏天，暗无天日，让人不寒而栗。其实并非如此，我亲爱的朋友。在那个时代，人们就已经知道如何作恶作得漂亮，文雅而不带血腥气，以免体面的上层人士看了觉得恶心。黑奴们表面看来都不错，吃得好，穿戴整齐，梳洗得油光滑亮。交易所对黑奴们的照顾也不失细致周全，为的是让他们在交易那天都显得结实健康，光鲜体面。新奥尔良的奴隶交易所从外表看与其它房子没什么不同，收拾得干干净净。交易所外搭着个棚子，棚子底下站着几排男女黑人，他们是作为里面供拍卖的黑奴的标本。 Then you shall be courteously entreated to call and examine, and shall find an abundance of husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and young children, to be "sold separately, or in lots to suit the convenience of the purchaser;" and that soul immortal, once bought with blood and anguish by the Son of God, when the earth shook, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, can be sold, leased, mortgaged, exchanged for groceries or dry goods, to suit the phases of trade, or the fancy of the purchaser. 接着，交易所里会有人殷勤地请你进去看货。在里面你可以看到大批别人的丈夫，妻子，兄弟，姐妹，父亲，母亲和子女，"零售、批发，任您选择！"仁慈的主啊，你当年在天翻地覆、山崩地裂之时，历尽千辛万苦，用自己的鲜血拯救出的人类不朽的灵魂，而今却在被自由买卖、租借和抵押，任由顾客的喜好或双方意愿用布匹或杂货进行交易。 
玛丽和奥菲利亚小姐谈话之后的一两天，汤姆、阿道夫及其他五六个仆人就被送往××街的一家奴隶交易所，在那里老板的热情安排之下，等候第二天的拍卖。 Tom had with him quite a sizable trunk full of clothing, as had most others of them. They were ushered, for the night, into a long room, where many other men, of all ages, sizes, and shades of complexion, were assembled, and from which roars of laughter and unthinking merriment were proceeding. 汤姆随身带一口大箱子，里面装满了衣物，其他人也大多是这样。他们被领进一间狭长的房间里过夜。屋子里已经有许多男黑人，老少、高矮、肤色各个齐全。他们聚在一起，谁也不知道命运如何，只好逗乐子排遣忧愁，不时可以听见他们的哄堂大笑声。 "Ah, ha! that's right. Go it, boys,--go it!" said Mr. Skeggs, the keeper. "My people are always so merry! Sambo, I see!" he said, speaking approvingly to a burly negro who was performing tricks of low buffoonery, which occasioned the shouts which Tom had heard." 啊哈，伙计们，对了，你们就得快活！"交易所老板说，"我这儿通常都是很热闹的。噢，原来是桑巴！"他对一个身材高大的黑人夸道。这个人正在玩一些低级、滑稽的小把戏，引得众人围着他大笑。 As might be imagined, Tom was in no humor to join these proceedings; and, therefore, setting his trunk as far as possible from the noisy group, he sat down on it, and leaned his face against the wall. 汤姆没有心情与这些人调笑，这是很显然的。他把箱子放到离哄闹的人群远远的，一屁股坐在上面，头抵在墙上。 The dealers in the human article make scrupulous and systematic efforts to promote noisy mirth among them, as a means of drowning reflection, and rendering them insensible to their condition. The whole object of the training to which the negro is put, from the time he is sold in the northern market till he arrives south, is systematically directed towards making him callous, unthinking, and brutal. The slave-dealer collects his gang in Virginia or Kentucky, and drives them to some convenient, healthy place,--often a watering place,--to be fattened. Here they are fed full daily; and, because some incline to pine, a fiddle is kept commonly going among them, and they are made to dance daily; and he who refuses to be merry--in whose soul thoughts of wife, or child, or home, are too strong for him to be gay--is marked as sullen and dangerous, and subjected to all the evils which the ill will of an utterly irresponsible and hardened man can inflict upon him. Briskness, alertness, and cheerfulness of appearance, especially before observers, are constantly enforced upon them, both by the hope of thereby getting a good master, and the fear of all that the driver may bring upon them if they prove unsalable. 黑奴贩子们处心积虑地想在黑奴中制造些欢乐气氛，因为他们想麻醉黑奴的思想，使他们忘掉自己的厄运。一个黑奴在从北方市场上被卖到南方，都要受到一系列的训练，无非是想让他们变得麻木不堪，冷漠无情，机械愚笨。黑奴贩子们从弗吉尼亚州或肯塔基州买进一批黑奴后，就把他们押送到附近一个适宜于养息的场所进行训练，往往是在有温泉的地方。黑奴们成天饮食无忧，但无所事事，难免会烦闷无聊，于是经常有一位琴师为他们拉琴，老板让他们跳舞。有些人却始终放不下对妻儿、故土的思念之情，整天抑郁着，他们的落落寡合会引起老板的注意，老板会认为他们性情阴郁古怪，有时会让暴戾狠毒的黑奴贩子教训他们一通。因此，他们迫不得已装出一副高兴愉悦、活泼爱动的样子，尤其是在客人面前，一来是为碰上好主顾，二来则是为了免遭摧残。 
那块黑炭在那儿干嘛？"交易所老板出去之后，桑巴向汤姆走过去问他。桑巴肤如墨漆，魁梧健硕，精神焕发，口齿伶俐，惯于耍弄各种把戏和嘴脸。
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